Vicious Heart (Desert Kings MC #2)

32. Riley

thirty-two

Riley

My in the parking lot of The Black Cat. I didn’t need to look to know it was Cam.

“Hey.” I couldn’t keep the relief from that one word.

“Where are you?” Cam sounded…broken.

My heart slammed against my chest. “Fixing this.”

“It’s too late, darlin’. I came by Dylan’s to see you, before…” His voice trailed off.

“I’m on my way right now, Cam.”

Merc mouthed ten minutes .

“I can be there in ten.”

“I’m on my way to the clubhouse.”

“No. Just wait. I have proof.”

But he wasn’t listening. Either the phone was cutting out or he was beyond belief. “I love you, darlin’. No matter what happens today, know I’ve loved you more than anyone in my whole fucking life.”

“I love you too. So much.” I was crying. Merc climbed on the bike, waiting on me before he fired it up.

I wanted to shout at Cam to run, to get a head start, let Merc and me finish this. But I knew him well enough to know he wasn’t the running kind.

“He’s going to the clubhouse,” I told Merc as I frantically climbed on behind him, fastening the helmet as he tore out.

The ride was fast, stealing my breath and my stomach. I didn’t trust Merc like I did Cam. I didn’t have that much faith in anyone . But he got me to the clubhouse in one piece and didn’t leave me enough time to panic.

“You ready?” he asked, hopping off before me and holding his hand out so I could hop off.

I slipped my bag around and off my shoulders, clutching it in one hand. “Yeah.”

“Merc!” A biker I didn’t know stuck his head out the front door. “They’re starting, bro.”

He took off around the side of the building. I gave chase, struggling to stay with him, panic making me breathe harder—scared.

I rounded the corner in time to see Jester throw a right so hard, Cam’s entire body turned with it, blood flying from his mouth. I screamed, but there was no sound, or if there was, I couldn’t hear it.

Everything happened fast. Standing in a circle of doom around Cam, they all turned, Cam looking up, swiping at his mouth, his face contorted with confusion. Preacher barked orders, gesturing at me and jabbing a finger in the air. These were his brothers, his friends, and the brutality of what was happening was almost too much for me to stomach.

Anger surged through me.

A man I didn’t recognize charged forward, reaching for me. Merc in front of me, intercepting him. I couldn’t hear him, much like everything else, but his smile was mean and far from happy. Whatever he said shocked the other guy enough he backed down and looked toward Preacher for help.

When no one else came for me, I closed my distance on the group, and Preacher charged toward me himself.

I pulled my father’s gun, let my leather backpack drop and stepped over it. A forty-five was large and heavy, but my hands didn’t tremble as I slid the safety off—a round already chambered.

“One more step and I’ll fucking kill you.” And I meant every word.

“Baby.” Cam was behind me, nuzzling my hair, pulling me against his chest, hand snaking down my arm toward the pistol. “You can’t be here.”

There was a pain in his voice that would haunt me the rest of my life.

But so would the look on his face when I jerked away to the side closest to Merc. I only hazarded him the quickest glance, but Cam’s expression twisted in a mix of fear and something else I didn’t quite understand. He licked at the blood on his lip, reaching for me again.

It was Merc who caught his arm and pushed it back. Then I knew. Betrayal. Cam took a step back and turned hard. “The fuck?”

“There’s another way.” I ground out to Preacher. “Right? Another way that he gets to walk?”

Preacher, realization brightening his eyes, waggled his bushy eyebrows. “Well, darlin’, there just so happens to be.”

Cam’s shout was feral, angry, and echoed off the side of the building. Puck and Jester grabbed him as he dove for me again, and held him back.

Merc wouldn’t even look at them, couldn’t, because of what we were about to do. I closed my eyes tight as Preacher laughed. “I’ll need a vote.”

“Fuck no!” Cam struggled, tearing at Puck’s arms around his, kicking at Jester as he stood in front of him, leaning on him, and pushing them all back.

“Yay.” Merc said, then turned to Cam. “Her choice, brother. I can’t let you do this.”

When he looked at his father, something passed in that look that nobody else would understand.

AP, completely trusting his son, nodded his head and gripped Dekes on the shoulder. “Yay.”

“The fuck?” Cam jerked again. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Puck gripped harder.

Dekes swore and looked away. “Yay.”

The guy who had tried to intercept me and Drop Top, also yay’d. Jester, a yay which earned a buckling kick to the leg from Cam. Grimacing, Jester recovered quickly and held fast. I couldn’t figure out if they trusted AP that much, or didn’t like the idea of hurting Cam. Maybe a good bit of both.

“No. Nay. Fuck no.” From Cam.

“Also, no.” Puck grunted, still holding him.

I stopped looking at Cam and slowly lowered the pistol, which Merc took and slid into his belt. “I won’t ride with you.”

Never.

“Take your choice, gotta have witnesses, anyway.” He sneered.

“I’ll ride with Merc. And neutral ground—Ro’s house?”

She wasn’t there, which was the entire damn point. With a jerk of his head in agreement, Preacher turned and exited through the clubhouse. Drop Top and several others I didn’t know followed him.

I kept my face from Cam, I couldn’t look at him, and see that anguish again, knowing I put it there.

Merc took my hand as we went back the way we came. The louder Cam shouted, the angrier and more desperate his voice, the tighter Merc squeezed.

While I climbed on the back of his bike, he stalked to Cam’s and shoved a knife into the back tire, then the front tire, each one popping with an angry hiss. “Buying us a little time or he’ll be right on our ass.”

But nobody would keep him from me that long. I’d seen the wild look in his blue eyes. I was counting on it.

I swore I could still hear him screaming as Merc tore out of the parking lot behind Preacher and the other guys.